BAGHDAD — Protesters angered by the burning of a replica of the Quran stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad early Thursday, breaking into the compound and lighting a small fireplace.

Online movies confirmed demonstrators on the diplomatic submit waving flags and indicators exhibiting the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political chief Muqtada Sadr. It wasn’t clear if there have been any employees contained in the advanced on the time.

The Swedish Foreign Ministry didn't instantly reply to requests for remark.

The movies confirmed dozens of males climbing over the fence on the advanced, with the sound of them attempting to interrupt down a entrance door. Another confirmed what gave the impression to be a small fireplace being set. Other footage confirmed males, some shirtless in the summertime warmth, inside what gave the impression to be a room on the embassy, an alarm audible within the background.

Others later carried out predawn prayers exterior of the embassy.

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry issued an announcement condemning the assault.

“The Iraqi government has instructed the competent security authorities to conduct an urgent investigation and take the necessary security measures in order to uncover the circumstances of the incident and identify the perpetrators of this act and hold them accountable according to the law,” the Foreign Ministry mentioned.

Iraqi police and state media didn't instantly acknowledge the assault.

The demonstrations started after a person deliberate, underneath police safety, to burn a replica of the Quran and the Torah, the Jewish holy e book, exterior of the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm this Saturday. However, the person reportedly had deserted his plan the next day.

The proper to carry public demonstrations is powerful in Sweden and guarded by the structure. Blasphemy legal guidelines have been deserted within the Nineteen Seventies.

For Muslims, the burning of the Quran represents a blasphemous desecration of their faith’s holy textual content. Quran burnings up to now have sparked protests throughout the Muslim world, some turning violent.

An Iraqi Christian immigrant final month burned a Quran exterior a Stockholm mosque throughout the main Muslim vacation of Eid al-Adha, triggering widespread condemnation within the Islamic world. The same protest by a far-right activist was held exterior Turkey’s Embassy earlier this 12 months, complicating Sweden’s efforts to persuade Turkey to let it be a part of NATO.

In June, protesters stormed the embassy in Baghdad throughout sunlight hours over that Quran burning. Another day of protests noticed 1000's of demonstrators on the streets within the nation. Protesters then, in addition to early Thursday, referred to as on Iraqi officers to expel Sweden’s ambassador to Iraq.

• Associated Press author Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

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